Little Movement Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, improving almost 490 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,440-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns over inflation, recession and interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the technology and plastic stocks were offset by weakness from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 113.84 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 14,438.52 after trading between 14,159.39 and 14,450.47.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 1.10 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.86 percent. CTBC Financial plummeted 5.12 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.68 percent, First Financial fell 0.40 percent, E Sun Financial climbed 1.11 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.96 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.44 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.42 percent, Catcher Technology soared 3.06 percent, MediaTek strengthened 1.89 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 1.52 percent, Nan Ya Plastics accelerated 1.13 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.11 percent, Taiwan Cement dipped 0.24 percent and Delta Electronics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed and flat as the major averages shook off a sharply lower open on Thursday, improving as the day progressed and ending little changed on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow shed 142.62 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 30,630.17, while the NASDAQ rose 3.60 points or 0.03 percent to close at 11,251.19 and the S&P 500 slid 11.40 points or 0.30 percent to end at 3,790.38.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected disappointing earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS), which both missed expectations.

Concerns about inflation and higher interest rates also continued to weigh on the markets after the Labor Department reported that U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in June.

Another report from the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly inched higher last week.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Thursday as concerns about the outlook for energy demand resurfaced amid fears of a possible recession due to rising interest rates. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.52 or 0.5 percent at $95.78 a barrel.